It is well known that pizza businesses make and sell millions of hot pizzas for delivery and carryout. The success of these business depends to an extent on the cost and functionality of the folded cartons utilized in packaging the pizza product. Ideally, it is recognized that these cartons should be cost economical, easy to use, stackable, rigid and crush-resistant.
Some of these cartons are known to employ inward-slanting wall constructions in an effort to conserve manufacturing costs, and attain maximum stacking strength. Certain cartons employ various rigid cover structures and avoid the use of any tabs projecting above their cover structure so as to allow stacking of multiple cartons one on top of the other. Other carton designs rely on foldable blanks capable of being manufactured in nested and inverted configuration in order to achieve a minimum of material consumption.
Moreover, the majority of prior art folded pizza cartons are intended to be used in a manner which requires several steps. These steps include pre-erecting the carton, stacking empty pre-erected cartons on the shelf, removing a pre-erected carton from the shelf and opening a pre-erected carton. Then, a pizza is removed from an oven and placed on a counter surface for cutting after which the sliced pizza is transferred from the counter surface to the opened carton that must be reclosed.
Several drawbacks are inherently unavoidable in using the prior art cartons to package pizza. For example, the previous carton designs necessitate additional labor in pre-erecting the cartons and create potential contamination when the pizza is placed on a counter surface for cutting. During the cutting process, the pizza starts cooling which is undesirable to the consumer. Further labor is required to transfer the pizza to the pre-erected open carton and reclose the carton.
It should also be appreciated that once a pizza is boxed, it is important to let the moisture out of the carton to prevent soggy pizza. Prior art pizza cartons generally accomplish this task by venting the carton through seams or gaps between the end walls or sidewalls and the cover structure, or through other vent holes formed in the carton surface.
Mindful of such prior art structure and use, there remains a need for a material-saving, quickly-erected, food carton especially useful in packaging hot pizza. It is particularly desirable to provide a packaging structure which improves the rigidity, stackability, venting capability and cost effectiveness of the carton and use thereof.